Tag Archive: HP Lovecraft
And I’m back, sort of.
Okay, I’m still a bit unwell, but finally on the mend. In the meantime let’s continue with that discussion about some of the things I learned putting together our first anthology.
First off it was somewhat easier than creating an entire novel. With a novel you have to keep track of so many things like character development, interactions, subplots, pace of the story, etc. Now with an anthology, you still have a lot of stories to contend with but each one is self-contained and has its own beginning and end. You don’t have to be worried about how they fit into the main tale. Plus you can have a greater variety of characters and give each tale a flavor all its own. Sounds pretty easy so far right? Well, here’s where things started to get a little more complicated for me.
Like a novel, an anthology does need to have a certain feeling of cohesiveness to it. There must be some facet or factor that makes the reader feel like the stories all belong together in that one volume. This is of course fairly easy to do when you’re dealing with a bunch of stories by various authors dealing with the same subject matter. “The Penguin Book of Vampires” is a great example. It contains dozens of authors within its pages with each one using an actual vampire character or a variation on that theme.
Another simple method of dealing with this cohesive problem is to do an anthology that contains works by the same author. One of my favorite authors is the legendary Isaac Asimov, a prolific writer beyond compare.
Throwing a collection of his works together should be easy right? Wrong! While known for his volume of work in the field of science-fiction, Mr. Asimov also wrote mysteries, as well a huge body of non-fiction. So here you have to ask yourself what kind of anthology would you want? Do you want to have a sampling from different areas of his works to showcase just how versatile he was? Or would you rather want to focus on just one genre of his work at a time? Considering the volume of work the man left behind, most anthology creators have chosen the latter. This was especially true when he was still with us.
In the case of his mystery sleuths “The Black Widowers”, the publishers gathered all his published tales with these characters who solve puzzles and mysteries while sitting in a restaurant. The publishers also got Mr. Asimov to create an introduction to each collection (there were 5 all together), as well, but they didn’t stop there. Mr. Asimov provided some brand new tales that had never been published to make each collection more special. Furthermore, he add afterthoughts to every story giving the readers new insights to his characters as well as how he came up with the puzzles.
From there I started looking through the other anthologies by various authors (HP Lovecraft, sci-fi and horror collections) in our personal library to see what was done in those cases. And guess what I discovered, each collection had an Introduction/Preface depending on if the works were all the same author or by various authors. Furthermore, just about every tale in each anthology also had some thoughts at the beginning or end of it talking about the author, or thoughts they’d had on the work. Quite different than just having an “About the Author” at the end of your novel. Naturally we had hour work cut out for us, but there was still the issue of a feeling of connection between the stories. Did we have one or not?
To answer this question I found myself going back to the original source for many of the stories in our anthology, our online blog “The Vampyre Blogs – Private Edition”.
TO BE CONTINUED…
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Having just recently passed the 5 year anniversary mark of the release of our first book “The Bridge”, we thought it might be nice to share with you all just how this journey began. Where did the ideas for the Para-Earth Series come from? Who and what inspired the concept? And finally, for those who haven’t had the opportunity to actually read any of the books but are curious to know more, what IS a Para-Earth? To answer all these questions, let’s begin with a familiar opening from a very familiar television show from the 1960’s…
“Submitted for your approval…” these are the opening words written and spoken for the Twilight Zone by its creator Rod Serling. In that place, people found themselves facing death, adventure, revelation, terror, or even worse… themselves. So in the spirit of the late Mr. Serling, today’s entry is submitted for the approval of all our readers (whoever and wherever you may come from) as I guide you through the process of how the Para-Earth Series came into being.
In the early 1900’s Mr. Howard Phillip Lovecraft (often referred to as HP Lovecraft) created a series of stories that would come to be known as the Cthulhu Mythos. In these tales, the audience was introduced to beings from not only outer space, and some cases out of time. Some of these creatures were here on Earth long before man ever took his first breath. Yet as familiar as the names of Great Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, Nyarlothep and others, these were actually only a part of his fantastic imagination.
Wizards, alchemy and magic also played a large part of his writings. So did tales where human nature reverting to something more primitive and sinister, without help or influence from Cthulhu and his kin.
Mr. Lovecraft also dabbled in tales of science such as the ultraviolet wave machine that revealed things of such malice and horror that it was only by the saving grace of a barrier neither we nor they saw, that kept us safe.
All of these stories, along with many others were floating in my head when I first conceived my fictional reality. I knew I wanted to create something that had numerous possibilities for expansion, yet still have a thread that connected all the stories that were to come. There were to be intrusions into our reality, but why and where from eluded me.
My brain kept going back to Mr. Lovecraft’s tale of the ultraviolet wave machine that revealed beings existing side-by-side to us, just out of sight by laws of reality we never suspected. This held a lot of promise, but I felt as if I were intruding upon the works of a great man who cast a shadow as large, or even larger, than Great Cthulhu himself.
Then I read an introduction in one of the Lovecraft collection of stories, by Robert Bloch, another great writer I truly admire. I quickly learned that Mr. Bloch was not only a contemporary of Lovecraft, but a friend. And in this introduction he extrapolated upon the various aspects of Lovecraft’s own life and how they became part of his writing world. One of those aspects was dreams.
In that instant, I thought about some dreams of my own.
Now I don’t know if I’m an ‘experienced dreamer’ like Lovecraft’s Randolph Carter or just an average one. But time and again there are certain types of dreams we all seem to share at some point. Those are dreams where we are living a very different life from the one we know in our waking hours. In these dreams, family and friends are readily recognizable to us. We’ll even meet some who were merely part of our childhood, and long since parted ways. Yet in these dreams they can show up and we know everything about them as if we never parted. In fact, an entire life’s history is known to us in these dreams where we are single, married to our real-life partners, or to someone you never would have thought of as a love interest. In other cases you might be in love or married to someone you’ve never even met, but in that dream and in that moment, you know everything about them. Then we wake up, back in our beds in this reality. Naturally the dreams fade from memory and we’re sometimes left with feelings of having lost something, while at the same time we wonder, ‘Where did all of that come from? Was it the burrito? The pizza and the late night talk show circuit?’
In my case I began to wonder if maybe it was something more…
The realism in those dreams, at least in my case, were so remarkable that I could wake up with a feeling of having had a breathtaking experience, or even a terrifying one. Sights and even touch seemed so real to the point that if something unexpected or unnerving happens I would react physically and jolt myself awake.
At this point, my imagination was really getting fired up. Some kind of parallel reality setting held a lot of possibilities for me. However, it is also an area that has been explored so many times in books, short stories, movies and TV. What could I bring that would be knew and fascinating for readers? If I were to aim in this direction it had to be something new and different, something audiences had never encountered before.
TO BE CONTINUED…
In the meantime you can find our books at these online stores:
Amazon: The Para-Earth Book Series
AmazonUK: Para-Earths UK
Smashwords (Nook, Apple, Sony, Kobo, PDF): Para-Earths
Barnes and Noble: The Para-Earths Series
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In the last two years, so much has been changing for me when it comes to writing. For starts, I completed my first collaborative work with my wife Helen, which became “The Vampyre Blogs – Coming Home”. As I’ve said in previous entries, she has been my sounding board, my adviser on both science and science fiction, my rock, and my inspiration.
Shortly before work was completed on the “The Vampyre Blogs – Coming Home”, a friend from high school days, Rich Caminiti, asked me to look at a piece he’d been working on for a number of years. I read what he had done and quickly saw he was in the same boat I had been back in 2009-2011. A story idea which needed some serious direction, scene cutting/editing, a little more cohesive connection between ideas… but a SOLID concept. As we talked more, he asked me to help be his mentor and after having read my first two books he wished to know if we could work on a project together and I agreed. Like Helen, Rich is a huge knowledge of science fiction as well as computers and actual science, so I found the idea very appealing. After a few sessions of kicking around ideas a joke was made about vampires in the old west. But not just any old vampires, oh no. We started thinking about Chiangshi, or Chinese “Hopping” vampires. We had some serious laughs, but for me history repeated itself.
Taking a few steps back to four years ago, I had sworn I would never do a vampire story unless I could introduce a whole new angle to the idea, that also allowed my creation to be highly recognizable as such a creature. Furthermore, any vampire of mine would have to be science fiction based and be able to fit into my Para-Earth series. Yet at the same time such a being needed to have typical vampire powers such as being able to shape-shift, turn to mist, and be strong. But it would also have many of the usual limitations and needs such as avoiding sunlight for extended periods, sleep in the ground and of course drink blood.
Clearly this was a tall order and probably out of my league. Yet no sooner had I said this to myself, when the beginnings of an idea began to germinate in the back of my mind and soon Nathaniel Eoghan Steward was born. But even then I had to consult with my wife Helen to help me decide on what kind of life-form could turn an ordinary man into such a being. But she quickly thought up several possibilities based on actual life-forms that actually exist in today’s world that would suit the purpose and we were off and running.
Now we fast-forward to two years ago with me and Rich joking about Chinese vampires in the old west and once more the seeds of an idea began to take root. Drawing upon his knowledge of history and the Civil War, we soon came up with a working idea of espionage and the seemingly supernatural working together towards the last year and a half of the Civil War. We were even able to pull in some Native American lore and actual historic events to create “The Pass”, which is still under construction at the writing of this entry.
At first, in spite of Rich’s hopefulness that this could become part of the Para-Earth series, I hesitated. Not because I was possessive of the series, but I simply was unable to see how the story could be incorporated into the overall concept. The tale we were creating seemed so much more fantasy/horror, and I could not see how it could be incorporated into the Science Fiction aspect of the series. Then about a week ago, while taking my usual hour long drive to work (which is when I do a lot of ‘braining’ for various story ideas) a thought struck me that made the entire story itself come together in a way I hadn’t seen before. This brainstorm also allowed it to fit perfectly into the Para-Earth series, allowing me to take a step I had planned long ago for the series. Adding another new writer to it.
You see, long ago I had been inspired by HP Lovecraft who of course created the Cthulhu Mythos which continues to grow to this day long after his passing. While still alive, Mr. Lovecraft allowed and even invited other authors to build upon his mythos and help expand it. Some of those who joined in were August Derleth, Robert Bloch, and others. And as I mentioned before, modern day writers, including Stephen King, have continued adding to the mythos and bringing new life to it.
So when I began the Para-Earth series, I knew right off the bat I had created something with near limitless story possibilities, more than I alone could ever cover. Therefore, I planned that as the series progressed to allow others, who proved their writing skills and ability to stick close to my vision, to help expand and build upon the series. To date, I’ve only allowed my wife Helen and Rich to be part of the writing for the series. However, in the years to come I hope to invite more writers join us. But that is something for another entry. At the moment, the three of us have our hands full with several stories currently under way and more to be started, which I will cover in the next installment of this lengthy entry.
Until then, take care and keep writing my friends.
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Sometimes its good to check out the classics from way back when. HP Lovecraft was an author who lived in the early 1900’s and is considered by many to be one of the greatest horror writers in history. His creations ranged from magical (such as warlocks, and demonic beings) to creatures from outer space who are so ‘alien’ most do not even conform to any life forms we’ve seen on this world.
But his greatest talent was inspiring terror in the readers by letting them meet these nightmarish things through the eyes of ordinary people like you and me. We see and feel their terror at meeting things that are so different and (mostly malevolent) that seem to defy the laws of God and man.
Here is my review of one of his collected works. I may do reviews on some individual stories of his down the road because they are so long that they border on novellas.
So without further ado… Here is my review of “At The Mountains Of Madness”….
5 STAR RATING by Allan Krummenacker on Goodreads.com
An archaeological expedition into the frozen wastelands of the Antarctic leads to an amazing discovery of strange fossils that seem reminiscent of legendary creatures whispered in the dark pages of the Necronomicon. Soon actual specimens are uncovered in pristine condition but a freak snowstorm blows down the sides of the mountains cutting off the members of the expedition that found them from the rest of their team. Silence follows and a rescue mission is sent out to see what happened at the camp and what has become of the treasured find.
But only horror awaits the rescuers as the camp is found to have been wiped out in the most bizarre and horrid fashion, with one of the camp’s men missing along with a couple of the sleds. As the search expands more and more questions arise and a trip to the fabulous mountain range reveals a terrifying secret. One that will drive one man mad and leave another shaken as the tries to reconcile himself to the knowledge of how life evolved on our world and what was behind it.
This and other tales of the macabre await the reader, as Mr. Lovecraft weaves tale after tale of horror and madness.
“At The Mountains Of Madness” is one of those tales by the great man that border on science fiction as well as horror. The entities that appear in the story come from the stars and are truly alien and frightening to imagine. His creations were truly not of this world in my opinion. These creatures are not humanoids with funky foreheads as depicted in so many movies or on television.
Perhaps he should be considered among the earliest of science fiction writers as well as horror.
*To read more of my reviews on Goodreads.com click on the link below:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5284559-allan-krummenacker?shelf=read
Musings Of Two Creative Minds 